For Immediate Release
James Essex-Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Public Relations

Earl Pearson Jr. Prevails in "Indiana Icebreaker" at Brownstown Speedway for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series

BROWNSTOWN, IN--Earl Pearson, Jr. of Jacksonville, FL passed race leader Darrell Lanigan on lap 61 of the 75 lap Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series main event on Saturday Night at the Brownstown Speedway and then went on to score his first series win of 2006 as the defending series champion captured the Ninth Annual "Indiana Icebreaker" sponsored by Jones Core. The win was Pearson's third career on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and earned the 34 year old driver $10,000 as he came from the 10th starting spot to take the win aboard the Carlton and Kemp Lamm owned, Lucas Oil Products, Dunn-Benson Ford, K&N Engineering, Inc., Sunoco Race Fuels, All-Star Performance, Larry Wallace Racing Engines, MasterSbilt Ford Taurus. Lanigan of Union, KY would finish second after starting 14th in the Lanigan Autosports/GottaRace.com/Rocket Ford Taurus with Don O'Neal of Martinsville, IN placing third in the Randall Eller/Independence Lumber/MasterSbilt Monte Carlo. Completing the top five were Greg Johnson of Bedford, IN in the John Hall/J&H Construction/Intimidator Grand Prix and Brian Birkhofer of Muscatine, IA in the J&J Steel/Pro Power Engines/MasterSbilt Monte Carlo. A standing room only crowd was on hand as 68 cars were entered in the night's events.

Heavy traffic started to play a role in the race for the first time as Lanigan would catch up to the tail of the pack by lap 33. At this time Pearson was finally able to wrestle second from O'Neal and set his sights on Lanigan. Pearson would eventually catch up to Lanigan by lap 38 with O'Neal still running in third with Horton now fourth as he had gotten by Johnson. With 30 laps to go it was still Lanigan and Pearson showing the way. Lanigan was about two to three car lengths ahead of Pearson as the two were still battling through some heavy traffic in front of them. Johnson then went by Horton to regain the fourth spot and he was catching up to O'Neal trying to make a race of it for the third position. Now with 20 laps remaining the crowd was on their feet as Pearson saw an opening on the inside of Lanigan and he made the pass on the 61st lap to take over the lead. Pearson was the fifth different driver to lead this race, but Lanigan was not through yet as he was not about to settle for second place.
With ten laps to go Lanigan was all over Pearson for the lead as Pearson was encountering some traffic in front of him. With the roles reversed Pearson now had to fight to maintain the lead knowing one mistake and Lanigan would be by him. With five laps to go Lanigan was on the rear of Pearson's racer, but Pearson was able to withstand Lanigan's challenges and cross the finish in first to claim his first ever win at Brownstown Speedway. Lanigan came home a close second followed by O'Neal, Johnson and Birkhofer.

In victory lane Pearson thanked a multitude of people who have helped him get off to an excellent start in 2006. "My new crew chief Jason Fitzgerald, my car owners Carlton and Kemp Lamm and all the crew they've done a great job this year, we are really running well and it feels good to win here at Brownstown, probably one of the toughest tracks to ever win a race at." "I caught Lanigan there in traffic and I knew if I could get a run on him and get to the inside I might have a shot at passing him and it worked out real well and we were able to get by him, I don't know if I could have beat him without the lapped traffic, he had a real good car tonight."

In preliminary action Steve Francis set a new Brownstown Speedway track record with a fast lap of 13.546 seconds to earn the Comp Cams fast time award among the 68 cars on hand. The PBM Performance Products heat races were won by Brian Birkhofer, Tim Dohm, Greg Johnson, Darren Miller, Rick Eckert and Don O'Neal. The Mason Racin' Rebel Shock Dyno first B-Main went to Shannon Babb with the Penske Shocks second B-Main belonging to Corey Conley.